Parent urges district to honor student DNR, calls for disability-sensitivity training

During the open-call public-comment period, Susie Jackson told the Gilbert Unified District Governing Board that her son’s Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) directives were not honored by the district, and she urged policy changes to ensure equitable treatment of students with disabilities.

Jackson said she obtained district emails via a FOIA request showing guidance and DNR directives provided to staff in a prior case and asked why a DNR was honored in one instance but refused for her son. "Can I ask publicly why a DNR was honored for a different student but is refused for my son? The inconsistencies are a challenge," she said.

Jackson said she and her family requested 1:1 nursing to enable her son to attend school, that nursing was denied after a meeting she described as attended by district legal counsel, and that she had attended more than 100 individualized education program (IEP) meetings with the district. She asked the board to create mandatory disability-awareness and sensitivity training for all staff and to establish a coordinator position to support social and extracurricular opportunities for students with disabilities.

Jackson also reported that two district directors had appeared in insensitive costumes she described as mocking a person with disabilities; she characterized the district response as silence and called for accountability and change. The board did not issue an on-the-record response during public comment; staff follow-up was not recorded in the transcript.